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comment by user-inactivated
user-inactivated  ·  2327 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: What will the price of Bitcoin be one year from today?

can't help but recall buffett's phrase "effortless money." bitcoin is exactly that for the vast majority of owners who have never put any of their energy bill toward it.

but unlike previous silly wildcat speculation markets which seduced the working classes (the stock market is your ticket to the upper class! it's okay to have two mortgages at once on a salary of 30k/yr! etc), bitcoin by nature is the exclusive province of the gray tribe. and that may make a fundamental difference in how the expansion plays out.

still... previously "effortless money" described a sort of stigma or negative, definable phenomenon, which is why buffett said what he did and why he's been right in the '80s, and again in the '90s, and again 10 years ago.

question: why is 1 bitcoin worth 7000 dollars?





kleinbl00  ·  2327 days ago  ·  link  ·  

    question: why is 1 bitcoin worth 7000 dollars?

Because it is a reliable store of value that cannot be confiscated, is not subject to tax and requires no laundering. When your market economy is built on top of a command economy, you want to be able to withdraw from it as quickly and painlessly as possible.

Xi Jinping has been effectively enshrined as Mao II. The economic policies of the last ten years are likely to be the economic policies of the next ten years. Bitcoin's market cap is 120 billion. China's GDP is 12 trillion. Bitcoin represents an easy hedge for the .01%.

mk  ·  2327 days ago  ·  link  ·  

    question: why is 1 bitcoin worth 7000 dollars?

Because due to its properties, people can disagree on its value to the tune of $7000.

user-inactivated  ·  2327 days ago  ·  link  ·  

i agree that gets us part of the way to an explanation

mk  ·  2327 days ago  ·  link  ·  

From one perspective (perhaps a frustrating one) that's the whole of it.

The dollar bills in my pocket seem slightly silly things, and I think they will seem only more so with time. It's not just their backing, but their scarcity that gives them value. They stop at small denominations because their scarcity is largely an equation of ROI.

The numbers in my bank account seem a bit crazy to me. I need to trust so much that I have so little power over.

user-inactivated  ·  2327 days ago  ·  link  ·  

however, bitcoin is not a currency

mk  ·  2326 days ago  ·  link  ·  

That doesn't matter much when it comes to its value. It has some useful properties of currency, and lacks some undesirable ones. It has its faults too, but it needn't be a currency to have value.

user-inactivated  ·  2252 days ago  ·  link  ·  

incidentally, i'm with artemus

OftenBen  ·  2327 days ago  ·  link  ·  

    question: why is 1 bitcoin worth 7000 dollars?

For the same reason five small pieces of paper and a few disks of engraved metal get me a beer.

user-inactivated  ·  2327 days ago  ·  link  ·  

no. not at all.

OftenBen  ·  2327 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Allow me to slightly refine my statement.

Because people are willing to exchange $7000 worth of goods or services in exchange for one.

kleinbl00  ·  2327 days ago  ·  link  ·  

I know you want to be flippant about this but it's a serious question. Asked a different way: what would make people decide it's batshit insane to trade the better part of a jetski for a UPC code? 'cuz that's where we're at.

katakowsj  ·  2308 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Herd mentality? Trust?

Enough people will trade their potential to purchase a jetski for a UPC code because they have a belief that jetskis, like boats, are a hole in the water in which to pour money. Their UPC code, however has demonstrated value, and potentially may increase in value, to so many people, that the risk seems worthwhile.

Besides, if you really want to be out on the water, don't want to piss away money each season on batteries, maintenance, and outrageous insurance and registration fees, you'd be better off picking up sailing or windsurfing.